This month, I’ve joined the exodus from the platform formerly known as Twitter.
I had been looking for an alternative for a long time—opening accounts on Threads, Mastodon, and Bluesky—but none of them really gave me the same quality of experience that I used to get on Twitter before it became a right-wing hell site.
The problem varied depending on which of the alternative apps I was looking at. For example, Mastodon and Bluesky were pretty empty—people I followed on Twitter simply weren’t there, and so the timeline I was presented with on opening the app was barren.
Threads had a different issue in that it is linked to Instagram, so I automatically followed all the people I followed there on Threads, which wasn’t really what I wanted. To make Threads worse, there’s no option to see only the posts from people you follow. Instead you get a permanent “for you” page, the posts on which are governed entirely by Meta’s algorithm.
What’s the point in following people on an app if you’re going to see more posts from people you don’t follow than people you do? There’s usually a reason I choose to follow someone.
That looks like it’s changing, though, as Bluesky seems to be gaining ‘critical mass’. Some of the more popular accounts I followed on Twitter have made the switch, and the #wwfc tag, which was once desolate, is now populated almost as well as on Twitter.
So I’ve moved the bluesky app icon to the position where the Twitter icon used to be on my phone’s homescreen in the hope that muscle memory means it will be the app I open rather than Twitter and so far it seems to be working. Which is good, because Bluesky is such a refreshingly pleasant place to be compared to what Twitter has become in recent months.
For example, I haven’t yet deleted my Twitter account, mainly because Wolves have yet to make the jump to Bluesky so I still get notifications when then send out a tweet and I do like to know what they are saying. So I logged in on Saturday to get the team news, but I nicked the graphic and shared it on Bluesky with my thoughts rather than respond on Twitter. And in doing so I naturally scrolled through my “following” feed a little and, good god, it was horrible. There’s so much anger and hate and division on that site these days.
Actually, I suppose there’s been a lot of anger, hate, and division on Twitter for a long time, but you notice it so much more after not going on there for a while.
I very quickly found myself saying, “I don’t need this in my life,” and closing the app.
I hope that Bluesky can remain a pleasant place and that all the accounts that make Twitter so unpleasant don’t make the switch. I suspect they will, though. I had an interaction on BS last week with an account that initially seemed genuine and was looking for a thoughtful exchange but quickly reached for the “immigrants bad” argument, at which point I stopped responding to him.
The problematic Twitter accounts accuse Bluesky of being an echo chamber, but I wonder if that’s a bad thing. For these accounts in question, I’m sure it is simply because they appear to need someone to be angry with and shout at—it seems to be their sole reason for being on the app. And if the accounts they usually get angry with leave, what then? Who do they shout at then?
I recall there have been attempts to create a “Free Speech” social platform before (they always call them “free speech” platforms, when what they mean is somewhere they can say horrible things and not be accused of being, well, horrible). The most obvious is Trump’s Truth Social, which at least had the advantage of a major mouthpiece for the movement on there, but wasn’t Parler also a thing? Or Gab? None of them have really taken off because the people they are aimed at don’t want an echo chamber to be horrible in, they want someone to be horrible to.
Conversely, no one that I’ve encountered on Bluesky wants to be horrible to anyone, so they lack of “the enemy” isn’t really a problem. They can discuss things in a calm and rational way without having to get riled up by people being obnoxious in their opposition.
Ultimately, time will tell. Will those who’ve left Twitter for Bluesky gradually filter back there, or will they stay on Bluesky, allowing the platform to grow and be what Twitter once was? Guess we will just have to wait and see.
In the meantime, you can find me on Bluesky @markgeveritt.uk
